One of the Oldest Vampire Films 100 This Year; My Upcoming Book

Credit: Pixabay

Updated on 8/26/2022, 7:25 PM, PT

I apologise for another late post, but I got a late start over the weekend. 

As much as I am a vampire fan, especially of Dracula, I realised only a few days ago that this year marks the 100th anniversary of “Nosferatu”. Its actual anniversary day was back in February but the media’s celebration of it seems to continue. “Nosferatu” is the German Expression film interpretation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, predating nearly 10 years before Bela Lugosi’s interpretation of the all-time famous vampire. That said, it’s one of the oldest vampire films. Even so, it’s been seen by many, especially during its time, as a rip-off of the plot to Stoker’s historically famous vampire novel. 

Although the bald vampire in this film is not as popularly iconic as Bela Lugosi’s slicked back hair-do version, it’s still been an icon among goths and hardcore horror fans. So, in honour of this film, I decided to dedicate tonight’s post to it. I didn’t make the post a Book-To-Movie due to not only this past weekend not being the fourth one of the month (when we usually have our Book-To-Movie), but I already have a review of another work of fiction and its movie adaptation lined up. But I do plan to do a Book-To-Movie of “Dracula” / “Nosferatu” before the year is out. For this week’s post, besides some updates on my upcoming book, "Bad Apps", I've decided to give you a timeline of “Nosferatu” along with a list of where you can watch it for free! 

'Nosferatu' 100-Year Timeline

"Nosferatu" was directed by German director F.W. Murnau and starred Max Schreck as Count Orlok. The plot of this silent era film is the same as "Dracula", except that it’s told through the German culture.  Real estate agent Hutter travel’s to Transylvania to meet with Count Orlok at his castle to sell him some land. On his visit, he suspects that the count is a vampire. When Orlok travels to Hutter's town of Wisbourg, Germany, the real estate agent must return there as well to warn the people against him. 

Surprisingly, this movie was not initially released in its native Germany but, instead, in the Netherlands. However, it would be less than a month when it would premiere in its homeland. Below is a timeline of the movie's initial release, its releases thereafter and its remakes as indicated by IMDB.  

• 16 February 1922: Movie’s world premiere in the Netherlands
• 4 March 1922: Movie releases for the first time in its home Germany as part of a festival
• 15 March 1922: Movie’s theatrical premiere in Germany
• 16 December 1928: “Nosferatu” releases for the first time in the UK (London), retitled as "Dracula"
• 1 June 1929: First US release, New York City, as "Nosferatu the Vampire"
• 17 January 1979: The world premiere of the West German-French remake (in France); directed by Werner Herzog; the vampire’s name is changed from Count Orlok to Count Dracula (played by Klaus Kinski)
• 30 August 2000: "Shadow of the Vampire", a movie about the making of the original "Nosferatu", theatrical premiere (Belgium)
• 13 August 2022: The Robert Eggers remake in the works

It's iffy that Eggers’s version of the German classic will follow through since he's been said to have his doubts about making the film. Hopefully he'll decide to continue with and do a good job on it. It probably won't beat the original 1922 classic, but there's still a lot of potential for it. If you're too excited about the possible upcoming remake, you can see both the original and the 1979 remake for free (as of this writing) at these streaming video platforms: 

"Nosferatu" 1922 Original 

• Tubi
• The Rocku Channel
• Vudu
• Plex
• Pluto TV

"Nosferatu" 1979 Remake

• Peacock
• Tubi
• Crackle
• Amazon Prime Video
• YouTube

WIP/Work-In-Progress, Or BIP/Book-In-Progress

I'm currently working on two short stories for my BIP, in which one I have several technicalities to work on including what I'm currently trying to fix. What I've been trying to fix for the last two days is conveying both the protagonist's sense of time and the story's passage of it. I need to do this in order to make clear the order of certain events including off-the-page ones. What I mean by “off-the-page” are those events that aren't in the present time and setting of the story but occur elsewhere in the world of the story. So, once I get those events and the conveyance of their sequential in order, hopefully the story will roll quickly to its completion and so that much closer to the book's release! 

If you'd like more details of my BIP (Book-In-Progress), sign-up for my free author's newsletter, "Night Creature's Call"!

That's all I have for you this week. Be here next weekend for more WIP's and sci fi/fantasy news! Have you seen “Nosferatu” or its 1979 remake? Would you like to see a new remake of it? What other famous vampire films would you like to see get remakes of?  Let me know in the box below! 

Until next time . . .